True DynaMix is a creative group who have a hip hop twist. This young collective of singers and dancers are here to give Bridgend a positive reputation and show that their generation really can do great things. Bridgend have had a tough time recently due to suicide incidents that featured in the press involving young people in the South Wales county borough. True DynaMix are a group of youngsters from this area who have joined together to deliver the message that their generation have so much more to offer and good can come from their area. They describe themselves as an all singing, all dancing, fresh street but without intimidating – geek chic meets hip hop. True DynaMix are an amalgamation of two groups in Bridgend - one dance based group and one musical theatre group who have joined together especially for the competition. They are lead by Terry Michael, a dance teacher at Bridgend College and the community centre. He is extremely passionate about the group and travels a round trip from Leeds to Bridgend every week to teach the students. Terry is overjoyed at the prospect of them taking part in the show; he says things like this don’t happen in Port Talbot and Bridgend and he is committed to keeping True DynaMix going hence all the mileage from Leeds and back. Terry has been self funding the group from his other classes which he teaches. Along with Terry who choreographs the group, this young, fresh group has a vocal coach in the form of Grace Warner. Grace lives in Swansea and has just moved back from London.

ToneAcity

ToneAcity are a group of trained performers who haven’t quite made it...yet! Now with age against them, they’ve formed Tone-acity for one last try at the big time. Unable to find a choir in South East London that could satisfy his performance needs, Spencer, an out of work actor at the time, decided to set up his very own show choir for himself and other performers that were out of work at the time. And so, in January 2010 ToneAcity was born. Almost all of the members are trained performers of some nature who all craved a creative outlet. Many of them have struggled with long spells of unemployment and the fact that they are still singing and dancing is a real testament to their love for performing. Many members have overcome huge obstacles to hold onto their dream such as losing agents, and missing out on fantastic job opportunities. Spencer, who choreographs the group’s routines, enlisted the help of his friends Katherine Woolley to act as Musical Director, they have embraced their show choir status and are very proud of what they do each week. Katherine’s sister Hannah is also part of the group.

TCC

TCC stands for the Welsh equivalent of Theatre, Music and Media. All of the members study a variety of courses from acting, to performing arts to straight theatre and media within the TCC department. Trinity University College is unique in the fact that they are the only Performing Arts School that teaches all their lessons in Welsh and all group rehearsals are conducted in Welsh – even if they are singing an English song! MD Eilir says that the nature of the degree means that the group is used to working hard rehearsing from 9 – 9 and also juggling course work is a norm for them, but on top of this they still manage to get the normal college balance and absolutely live for the ‘work hard play hard’ motto. Some of the group live together in halls so the friendships are very strong, and although Eilir doesn’t know of any blossoming romances within the group he’s pretty sure there’s a lot going on that he doesn’t know about. The course itself is renowned in Wales for its quality, but Eilir feels it would be an accolade for the group members themselves if they could get the national recognition that this competition could bring. He wants TCC to put Trinity College on the national map, and for recognition for the school to reach past Wales into the rest of the UK. Eilir is certain that the group’s strengths lie in their singing ability. He is confident that the sound they make is of an incredible high standard and would never have it any other way. He thinks that the Welsh choral tradition has certainly played its part in why the group are so strong chorally, but also puts it down to their own hard work and determination. Many of the members come from a rural Welsh background growing up in small towns where singing is a way of life.

Cherish

Cherish are a group of 5 typical ‘girl next door’ teenagers who have known each other since they were 4 years old and want to share this experience together. Cherish are 5 school girls with dreams of performing on the big stage. Like most teenage girls they are into the latest fashions and music trends and want to perform young, fresh, modern songs. They have been a quintet for 4 months and the girls all have part time jobs to make some money. Libby works in a chip shop and Megan has a paper round. The 3 of the girls attended primary school together and have been friends ever since. These girls are the emphasis of the typical ‘girl next door’ group and two of the girls are next door neighbours.

Funky Little Choir

Funky Little Choir is a young group who want people to look beyond disability and prove that anything is possible! The group are made up of 14-18 year olds from Dorset. Sandie started the group as she teaches different schools in the community, so she brought children together to start the group. In January 2007, Sandie decided Christ Church needed something more contemporary as the other choirs in the area are much more classical. She announced it at a couple of school concerts, put flyers on cars and around town at Christmas time and advertised in the paper. Once formed, the choir originally rehearsed in a nightclub but had to move when it was sold. Now they have 110 in the full choir, however these 24 are the regular performers who are the most available and perform at most concerts. On a Monday night they are all best friends, then on a Tuesday life goes back to normal. The members of the group come from a variety of professional backgrounds, for example, Jenny is a secretary for an estate agent, John has just finished a degree in computer animation, Fiona is a teacher’s assistant in primary school, Fran works in insurance, Sam is studying Spanish and philosophy, and the rest are studying various A Levels and GCSEs. They are now close knit friends and are an individual bunch of kids, not everybody has masses of confidence, therefore they are not the like a lot of show choirs containing stage school children and they don’t fit into any category. There are also a couple of relationships within the choir, Sarah has a girlfriend in the choir and it is sometimes surprising to people when they first join to discover the relationship. Leader Sandie, and Hannah are mother and daughter, with Sandie sometimes revelling in the role of embarrassing mum! Sam, who has cerebral palsy, which affects the nervous system and mobility, loves being in the choir. The other children and the choir don’t see his disability and this has had quite an effect on his life. Before the choir he didn’t know what he was going to do but has since been offered 2 musical Theatre Places at Thames Valley and Southampton. The group is led by hard working mother of 2 Sandie. As well as looking after her 2 children, one of which is in Funky Little Choir, Sandie is a singing teacher at High cliff Secondary School, runs the school’s choir, and also runs the student choir at Bournemouth University. Sandie, who was a trained classical singer, had dreams from an early age to be a singer, however after going through a rebellious phase as a teenager and having her first child Hannah at 19, her singing dreams took a back seat. She then went onto work in office admin before eventually starting to teach at a school which lead to the start of her singing dreams returning through the choirs. When Hannah was a bit older, Sandie started teaching and she started to gain an interest in singing and drama, she became more aware of her desire to create something successful and fun. Having lost her passion for classical singing she realised there was very little around that was contemporary for the kids who didn't need to be amazing dancers or want to perform professionally but come and be part of something unique and affordable. Finally at 31, after her son Oscar was born, Sandie decided it was time to try this out and came up with the name Funky Little Choir hoping this wouldn't deter teenagers with a pre conception of "school choir". Having learnt from her mistakes as a teenager Sandie now realises the only positive thing in her life at the time was being in a choir, now she wants to give these children the chance to have something positive in their life to focus on. If they have any problems in their life Sandie is often the first person they come to. The group is now starting to get the recognition it deserves in the area, with the choir playing to 400 people in their local theatre on Saturday in ‘A night with Funky Little Choir’.

Elements

This amdram group are all part of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, an accountancy and professional service firm in London. The group’s main performance is an annual show in the West End, funded by their firm. This is not any old charity fundraiser, as they perform in front of over 4,500 underprivileged children from inner city London who are invited to come and experience a West End performance. Not only this, but the show is transmitted live to children’s hospital wards across the UK. This group of performers who took the ‘sensible’ career choice admit they may not still be in their chosen careers were it not for Elements. There are 4 big accountancy firms that many graduates must choose between when on the job hunt. Rival corporate companies offer social activities such as football, cricket and perhaps even a Latin choir, however, PWC are the only company with an AmDram group of this scale. PWC recognise the attraction of such a group as many graduates join the company primarily on the basis of joining the group. The company even book 100 seats at the group’s annual West End show to take prospective graduate employees along to, with the hope of enticing them to the company. Elements thrive on stripping off the grey suits and donning the glitz and glamour as their inner performers are allowed to escape on stage.